Recruiting

Marvin Bower broke with industry practice in his time by focusing hiring efforts on recent graduates from the best business schools, rather than among experienced managers. The premise for this was that analytical rigor and fresh insights were of greater value to clients than conventional wisdom. McKinsey has been known to make rare exceptions to this policy by hiring senior staff from industry (John Sawhill being a noted example). McKinsey is one of the most soughtafter destinations for graduates of top MBA programs, having been rated #1 in the Universum survey of most desirable employers for the past nine years (refer to http://money.cnn.com/magazines/ fortune/mba100/index.html). The firm is the largest single recruiter at the worlds top business schools. It is also the largest private nonlaw recruiter at Harvard Law School and employs more Rhodes Scholars than any organization outside of the State Department. Recently, McKinsey has diversified its recruiting base by soliciting candidates from graduate programs in law, medicine, engineering, science, and the liberal arts as well as by recruiting experienced hires from a variety of professional backgrounds including the military, law and medicine. Today, roughly half of McKinsey consultants with a graduate degree are not MBAs. These APDs (Advanced 9 Interview Guide McKinsey & Company Professional Degree candidates) attend a miniMBA training program before starting their careers at McKinsey. McKinsey also recruits very selectively among undergraduates, hiring as Business Analysts recent graduates from top universities to work as consultants alongside its associates for about 18 to 24 months. The BA program is one of the most competitive in industry and is coveted by many businessoriented undergraduates. Some business analysts choose to stay at McKinsey for an additional year as a BA, often to join an office abroad or specialize in a given industry. Many business analysts are sponsored by McKinsey to attend graduate schools, usually for a MBA but sometimes for other masters or Ph.D. degrees, after their initial two years at McKinsey and rejoin the firm afterwards. Some are offered a coveted DTA direct to Associate offer which means they effectively skip 2 years ahead of their peer group, but must forgo any educational support from McKinsey.